My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Spellbound
by Polar Bear 084
Summary: Twilight Sparkle is honored to be demonstrating her magical talent in front of the Princess Celestia Magical School for Gifted and Talented Fillies and Colts, but when she wakes up the day before unable to cast even a simple levitation spell, she wonders if she should even be Celestia's student at all. Enjoy and please review!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey Guys! Let me know what you think of this! It's my first attempt to write for MLP... I've been watching the series and I haven't finished them all yet so if I do accidentally repeat a theme from the show please forgive me! :) Enjoy!**

- Spellbound -

**Chapter 1**

Morning was rising. You could tell by the way the room continued to get brighter and brighter, and no matter how hard she wished under the blankets it simply refused to darken again. It was foolish to try, that kind of magic could only be wielded by Princess Celestia but the bed was just so comfortable, she almost never wanted to get out of it. Still, stretching and yawning she tumbled out onto the wooden floor and looked out at a glorious sunrise. Gently climbing over distant hills, flooding into lowland fields and filtering through the trees that rung the nearby Everfree Forest, it warmed the hearts of the wildlife that skittered out of deep burrows and flittered out of nests into the morning air. The Princess had out-done herself yet again.

Speaking of the Princess; that brought her mind to something that both set her heart a-flutter and brought a knot in her stomach the size of Rarity's wardrobe; she had been invited, by Princess Celestia herself, who'd dropped by the previous week and caught her practicing a very complicated transformation spell that unfortunately hadn't ended very well, to demonstrate her magical talents in front of the entire populace of The Celestia Magic School for Gifted Fillies and Colts. It was a tremendous honor, something that she'd reminded her friends of so much in the past week that everyone had come to telling her that it wasn't really _that_ amazing, not compared to saving all Equestria… twice. But even so, she'd been practicing religiously, barely even sleeping and researching with her every spare second, how she always reacted in a crisis, and it had all paid off yesterday. She'd managed to transform the entire Apple family orchard into blackberry bushes… and back again of course. She actually been trying to turn just one apple into an orange but she was incredibly satisfied with the result none-the-less and had gone straight to sleep… literally, Applejack had had to carry her home.

"But now I'm refreshed and ready to try again!" A noise like a sheep getting caught in a gate sounded from the foot of her bed.

"That's great Twilight, but could you possibly celebrate just a little bit quieter?"

"Of course not Spike! Tomorrow is the big day and I just have to get this spell right!" Twilight chuckled as he rolled over and hid his scaled ears under his pillow. "Come on let's go." She walked past and, while concentrating on searching for the book she needed in the library downstairs, used her magic to pull him out of his bed, place the blanket and pillow away at the top of her bookshelf where he couldn't reach them and called him to the library to help her search.

She kept looking, but when Spike didn't even stagger downstairs she started to get annoyed. "Spike where are you?" She walked upstairs to find Spike still in bed with the pillow on his face. "How did you get _that?_ You really climbed all the way up there to get those back!?"

Spike's head finally popped out from beneath the pillow with a very confused look. "What are you talking about Twilight? I've been here the whole time."

"But I put that up there!" She pointed her hoof to the very top of the bookshelf. "It didn't just come down by itself!"

"Twilight the pillow didn't move either! I'm going back to bed it's clearly too early." Twilight felt steam brewing in her ears.

"Spike you're getting up right now!" Twilight closed her eyes and used her magic to send the pillow flying across the room, leaving it hovering in mid-air. She waited for the cries of "Hey! Give that back!" but they never came. She opened her eyes and took a frightened step back. She closed her eyes and tried again. Her eyes snapped open and she took yet another step back. Everything was still the same; the pillow hadn't moved an inch and Spike was already fast-asleep.

She turned her attention to a nearby book, _Scheduling for the Experienced_, and tried to pick it up and flip it to her favorite chapter on color-coding but again nothing happened. The book simply stayed put, as though it was wedged incredibly tightly by the sheer amount of books around it, but Twilight had made sure that didn't happen again after pulling a whole wall of the library on Spike's head once, so that wasn't it.

Panic set in. She started cycling through every spell she knew, aiming at everything within five feet of her horn; evaporating spells on the vase of flowers, a refilling spell on her glass of water even a teleportation spell on herself… but again nothing. She ran over to Spike's bed and slammed her hoof down on the edge. He went flying onto the floor and Twilight soon had him pinned, her eyes wide and breath short.

"Ahhh! Twilight what are you doing!?" Twilight's teeth started chattering and her tail twitched, the kind of nervous traits she'd only shown once before, when she thought she'd be sent to magic kindergarten for not writing to the Princess for a week. Her lip quivered, her eyes glistened and then she started to cry.

"I can't cast any magic!" Spike stood there, watching the cleverest and most magically gifted pony in Ponyville crumpled in a heap. "I'm presenting to Princess Celestia's entire school tomorrow, and I won't even be able to demonstrate a simple levitating spell! What am I going to do!?"


	2. Chapter 2

- Spellbound -

**Chapter 2**

A knock sounded at the door.

"Ahh!" Twilight zipped under the bed. "If it's the Princess I'm not home!" Spike rolled his eyes and started to head downstairs. "Wait!" Twilight belted past him and he was spun to the ground, but she didn't seem to worry about that. She just swung the door open and yanked the pony outside of it into the library, slamming the door shut after her.

"Now really Twilight, _what _has gotten into you!" Rarity stood there looking incredulous as Twilight went around closing every curtain and shutter. "I thought we were going to breakfast not hiding out! I mean, why would you want to hid this?" She puffed out her chest and pointed her chin at the ceiling, showing off her latest ensemble, a cute two-piece dress inspired by the Edwardian ponies, complete with a light colored parasol now tucked under her left leg. But Twilight ignored her, running upstairs to close the last of the shutters. She was just trying to reach out over to the last window when she slipped, falling with a cry. Rarity jumped backwards as Twilight came crashing down beside her and closed the window with her own magic.

"Thanks Rarity," Twilight groaned, pulling herself up on wobbly knees. Then she remembered why she couldn't have just closed that window in the first place. She flung herself back on the floor and grasped Rarity's front hoof. "I need your heellp!" she cried.

Rarity cringed as water soaked into her fur. "I, see that... does that mean breakfast is canceled because I'm really quite hungry." Twilight collected herself, sniffling as she brushed herself off.

"Sure. I'll just go and make you something." She headed off towards the kitchen but it wasn't long before there was an almighty crash and she came back, water threatening to spill over her eyelids again. Rarity was now genuinely concerned. She'd never seen Twilight like this before. She gestured for her to sit down on some nearby pillows and walked over to sit down too.

"Now," Rarity said as gently as possible, keeping an eye on the trail of her dress to ensure it wasn't getting too dirty. "What's the matter?"

Spike strolled past, heading for the kitchen himself. "She hasn't been able to cast any magic all morning." Rarity's eyes widened more than ever before, and that was saying something. She turned back to Twilight, who's head was hung in shame.

"Don't worry darling. We'll sort something out!" She tried to smile, but even she knew it looked forced.

Twilight sighed. "But I've got a demonstration in front a huge number of very skilled ponies tomorrow! And Princess Celestia! When she sees I've forgotten everything she's taught me-"

"Now I'll have none of that." Rarity stood up, all thoughts of breakfast completely forgotten. "If you're having spell-casting issues then I know just who you need to see! Come on!" And with that she got up, swung the door open and trotted out of it, Twilight following sullenly behind.

"Hang on," Rarity thought suddenly. "I'm going to need a change of outfit for where we're going! To the Carousel Boutique!"


	3. Chapter 3

- Spellbound -

**Chapter 3**

"Now what should I wear? Oooh there's that new couture outfit I could try. Oh but then there's my beautiful gem adorned hat that I desperately want to wear and they just wouldn't match, just wouldn't!" Rarity continued to shuffle through what she'd called her "Inspiration room", finding and then dismissing some of the most beautifully made garments Twilight had ever seen. Even so, time was running out. A look outside told her that it was nearing noon already.

She shifted uncomfortably at how long she'd been sitting in the middle of this room, watching her sift through clothes, when she should really be out there figuring out why she all-of-a-sudden couldn't cast even a single drop of magic. "Rarity I really think we should be going! If where we're going really is _that_ far away we should probably hurry up." Rarity just chuckled as she continued her search.

"Oh Twilight you can be a drama queen sometimes." She grunted as she pulled her walking boots out from deep within the closet. She took one look at them and gasped. "No! It's horrendous, it's horrible, it's completely barbaric!"

"What!" Twilight ran over to help.

"There's mud on them!" Rarity held the boots up with a cry, as though astounded that mud had found the audacity to jump on _her _boots. Twilight squinted, barely able to make out the miniscule brown speck that was resting just on the front of the boots. She sighed over the heavy sobs that were being thrown into the carpet. And she was supposedly the drama queen here?

She was about to say something to that effect when hoofsteps sounded from the hallway and Applejack stepped through the door, a brown cloth satchel hanging on her left side and her signature stetson resting atop her head.

"Hey there Rarity I was hoping you might... be-" she stopped talking as she took in Rarity sprawled on the carpet. She looked at Twilight as if to ask what was wrong but Twilight just held up Rarity's boots in explanation, adding an eye roll to emphasize her point. Applejack's brow furrowed, as she too squinted at the boots trying to figure out what all the fuss was about. "I don't see what's wrong with 'em." Twilight tried to wave her quiet but it was too late, Rarity was up, boots in hoof, and storming towards Applejack.

She thrust them in her face and said "Look!" When Applejack did little other than blink, speechless at her she tried again. "Can't you see right there!" She pushed them ever closer to A.J's nose, was starting to go cross-eyed in an attempt to see what in Equestria could be the problem.

Twilight started secretly laughing at how Rarity was trying to prove that getting mud on your shoes was the equivalent to finding out your favorite gem has been misplaced (or rather eaten by a very cute dragon whom she wouldn't name) to somepony who really had no interest in either. However, when Rarity then used her magic to try and showcase the boots and the criminal speck of mud, Twilight's laughter died and a churning in her gut started to rile and tumble in the most uncomfortable way. Such simple magic... why couldn't she achieve even such simple magic anymore?

"Well Rarity," Applejack's voice cut through Twilight's self-doubt, "I still can't see what's got your tail in a twist, but that's not really why I'm here anyway." She reached into her satchel and pulled out a very muddy and heavily stained pair of dungarees that looked as though A.J had worn them through some very frustrated apple trees as the left shoulder strap was torn in two, several scratches ran down its right flank and deep yellow stains littered the fabric from head to hoof. Rarity recoiled at the sight of them, hiding her boots behind her before glaring at Applejack as she held it up, allowing dirt to both fall onto the carpet and float into the air in the summer's sun that washed through the window. "I could use a repair on these if ya wouldn't mind?"

Rarity looked like she did mind. "I think they could use a wash too," she muttered, now trying to hold her breath to avoid breathing in any of the smaller flecks of dirt that could be seen hovering threateningly in the sunlight.

Applejack seemed to have heard her, as she was looking from her to the dungarees and back again. After a minute or so of this she said "Well they might be a bit dirty but," Applejack seemed to shift uncomfortably. She leaned in closer and whispered, "Promise you won't tell, but these are my lucky duds and I don't wanna wash them in case it washes out the luck. I was able to find apples on three separate trees today that I'd thought were done bloomin' ages back. And just the other day, I found Big Macintosh's favorite stuffed toy he'd lost weeks ago, all thanks to these beauties."

She shook the dungarees, allowing a huge clod of mud to fall with a _thud_ onto Rarity's floor. Applejack gulped."Well I guess I'll just be leavin' these here and I'll be off!" She threw down the duds on the floor, which brought great clouds of dirt billowing up, to the point where you couldn't even see where Applejack had been standing. Twilight heard heavy hoofsteps thundering away.

"Wait!" She called, desperate to have somepony else around to help. The hoofsteps stopped and then lightened as Applejack walked back, peering tentatively around the door-frame. She chuckled at the dust that still hung thick in the air and also how Rarity's mane was now very frizzy, a faint tinge of gold, and how the look that Rarity was wearing could stop a raging dragon, and had once. But when she saw Twilight, sitting there with her head hung low, her smile faded. She ignored Rarity's stunned glare, that was still being shot her way, as she trotted gently over to Twilight's side, sitting down next to her and placing a hoof over her shoulder.

"What's wrong Sugarcube?" To Applejack's surprise, Rarity forgot that her mane now looked like a living creature and that her favorite walking boots were now completely covered in very dirty mud and replaced her intense glare with a pained wince.

"She hasn't been able to do any kind of magic all day. I was just about to take her to Zecora's, I thought she might be able to help." Rarity looked around her once clean room, at the dirt that now clung viciously to every since piece of fabric. Her glare started to return. "Do you think you could come with us?" She said gently, her stomach twisting inside at the idea of Applejack being left alone in her once pristine house.

Applejack nodded. "Of course I will, there's no way I'd leave a girl hanging like that! Plus it's the least I could do considering you'll be fixing my lucky duds for me. Come on Twi, I know Zecora will be able to help you out. For all you know it could be something as simple as stage fright!" Applejack smiled reassuringly.

Twilight shook her head. "I don't know Applejack. Somehow this feels like it's something deeper than just stage fright. As though all my magic has just... left." Rarity couldn't stop the tears from forming in her eyes, but she had quickly magicked herself a spare piece of cloth to dab her eyes with.

"Actually Applejack, could _you _take Twilight to Zecora's? It's just I have an awful lot to do here, I have a large order of hand-stitched scarfs that need to be done by tonight and-"

Applejack stood up, grinning. "Say no more Rarity, I know how busy you like to keep yourself. We can make the trip to Zecora's easy enough." She turned back to Twilight and offered her hoof in support. "Don't worry sugarcube, you'll be castin' again in no time." Twilight sniffed and nodded, allowing Applejack to pull her to her hoofs.

"You're right." She said, her voice sprinkled with confidence for the first time that day. "Let's go to Zecora's, there isn't a problem she hasn't heard before!" She lead Applejack out of Rarity's room and down the nearby staircase. But Rarity, instead of starting to clean up the mess that Applejack always left in her wake, began frantically searching for a her chalk and good piece of paper.


	4. Chapter 4

- Spellbound -

**Chapter 4**

There was a rather sultry silence hanging about 6 feet around Twilight as she and Applejack made their way through the Everfree forest. She'd been leading the way up until the forest edge, but when she saw the trees looming over them she'd paused, their long, thick shadows casting worry deep into her heart once again. The sky above them didn't help matters, which had chosen today of all days to replace its beautiful and dazzling sunset, just the thing which might have lifted Twilight's spirits, with a dank fog of grey that stretched as far as the eye could see. But Applejack had patted her gently on the shoulder and taken up the lead, treading lightly over thorns and ducking beneath the lower branches that sought to scoop them from the ground and disappear them in the thick clouds that hung above.

"Don't you worry now Twilight," Applejack tried to lighten the mood slightly. "Zecora has the most extensive collection on exotic ailments I've ever seen!" Applejack turned around to see a fierce look in Twilight's eyes. She chuckled nervously, "Well except for yours of course, heh heh." The silence returned twofold, and Applejack began to mutter under her breath "Darn it AJ, you couldn't keep your big mouth shu- Ahhh!"

A shadow darted over their heads but in the fading light Applejack couldn't see what had caused it. "Timber wolf!" She cried and Twilight froze in place, her mind racing. Reacting on instinct, Applejack leapt infront of her and grabbed a nearby stone in her teeth, ready to launch it at the first lump of wood that poked its scrubby nose out from the underbrush. Twilight was stood stock still, wondering how much help she could possibly be without magic as a growling started from where they both now stared.

The bush rustled and Twilight's mind went into overdrive. What if Applejack couldn't protect them? What if she gets hurt because she has to worry about protecting me? What if-

She didn't get much further, as the growling intensified and the wolf took that moment to roll from the bush and kick about on the floor. That was weird, she'd never known a Timber Wolf to act like that before. But the slower her heart pounded and the closer she looked, Twilight realized that it didn't look that much like a Timber Wolf at all. Instead of the dark, heavy planks that would normally send fear spiraling through your body, there was a light blue fur and the thick green moss that was their mane had been replaced by long fair strands that flowed in every color imaginable.

"Rainbow!" Applejack was dumbfounded as she watched the pegasus, who was still laughing hysterically, pull herself to her hooves. However Rainbow only managed to get halfway, because then she noticed that Twilight was still stiff as a board, her eyes in a place very far away and Rainbow Dash was down again, clutching her ribs for fear they would break under the strain.

"Oh-h dear I hope we didn't frighten you?" A voice sounded behind them, forcing Twilight out of her mind and back into the forest. She turned around to see a timid mop of light pink hair poking out from behind a tree. "We were just on our way to the Froggling Pond, Rainbow said she'd help me find a friend for Timmy Toad, who's recovering from a really bad sore throat. She said she saw one down here but I gu- I guess she was wrong."

"You needn't worry Fluttershy," Twilight said as the rest of Fluttershy appeared and tip-toed towards them, "we're used to Rainbow's antics by now." She willed her heart to slow down to the point where she actually sounded believable. Rainbow pulled herself to her feet again, the last remnants of her hysterics dying down to a few short chuckles.

"Whatever Twilight, I don't think I've ever seen you so petrified!" Rainbow skipped up to Applejack, her voice full of her usual smugly confident tone. "Admit it, I got you good."

Applejack scowled. "Do you know how dangerous this here forest is already, without you crashing around and telling almost every critter in it where to find us?"

"Oh it was just a joke AJ, lighten up a little."

"Just a joke? Just a joke!? You know that's your problem right there, you're just not responsible enough!"

"What? I'm plenty responsible! It's because of me Ponyville gets such nice weather everyday, and such clear skies every night!" Everypony turned their heads upwards to acknowledge the thick clouds that hung above them. Applejack fixed her with a quizzical look. "Okay so I miss one day big deal!"

The arguing continued, and Fluttershy seemed increasingly worried. "Shouldn't we do something?" She stood watching the two shoot comments back and forth and it was a while before she noticed that Twilight hadn't answered her. "Twilight? Is everything okay?" Twilight seemed completely oblivious to everything around her, as though she had retreated so far into her thoughts this time that not even a full- on Rainbow, A.J argument could pull her from them.

Fluttershy started to feel agitated, which was saying something, and turned to the two ponies that were still arguing, passing comments back and forth so fast she started to feel dizzy.

"Um, excuse me? Girls?" The two continued arguing. "Um... Girls?"

Still nothing.

Fluttershy was getting pretty frustrated now, she hated these rare occasions when it was left to her to rally the group, she just felt she couldn't take charge that well... and judging by the way everypony was just continuing as though she hadn't said anything, that opinion just might be valid.

She took a deep breath, so deep that her wings unfurled and stretched to their full length, which combined with the fierce look on her face made her look unusually confident. Then she took one last look at the vacant Twilight and the squabbling ponies before her, who had now resorted to things like "Cloudbrain!" and "Hay-breath!" before she let all of it out in one big shout.

"GIRLS!" The two ponies snapped to attention, any thoughts of continuing their arguments completely diminished and Twilight managed to pull herself together, sort of. Her every thought still lingered on the coming day, the newest of which was trying to figure out just how far away "extreme exile" would be.

Still Fluttershy wasn't the kind to shout, so when she did everypony knew she meant business, but although Rainbow and Applejack had fallen into line, that didn't stop the two of them from exchanging a quick knock to each others flank while Fluttershy wasn't looking. Fluttershy began pacing infront of the two ponies, making them feel as though they were new recruits at some kind of camp. She started with Rainbow Dash.

"I thought you said you were going to help me find Timmy a friend, not go around scaring everypony! Just look at Twilight, can't you see how upset she is?" Rainbow fidgeted uncomfortably. Twilight did look pretty upset now that she mentioned it. She'd never known her to react so badly, usually a stunt like that would have just earned her a stern glare, which she personally found hilarious. "Now say you're sorry to Applejack too, she does not have hay-breath." Applejack grinned.

"Yeah, say you're sorry Rainbow!" But before Rainbow could even think about opening her mouth, Fluttershy had turned on Applejack, the smirk disappearing from her face.

"And you should apologize too! Rainbow is not a Cloudbrain!" The two of them mumbled at each other, looking deeply embarrassed. "Now why are you even out here in the first place? Don't you know how" Fluttershy gulped, snapping her head left and right within the fading light, "scary, the forest is after dark? In my opinion it's scary enough when you can see where you're going. But if you add darkness to it..." She trailed off, and Rainbow and Applejack breathed a sigh of relief. Fluttershy was her old self again.

"Well, ya see we were heading to Zecora's because," Applejack paused, motioning the two ponies to come closer. "Twilight's lost her magic." Twilight fumed silently, she hated it when ponies talked about her like she wasn't there.

"Yes it's true, I haven't been able to cast a single spell all day! And if you don't mind I'd like to get to Zecora's before nighttime because even if she can give me my magic back I still need to practice my spell, and it's already evening! I don't have time to wait around anymore!" She stormed off in the direction of Zecora's hut, wondering if anypony would follow her after that little outburst. Behind her Rainbow, Fluttershy and Applejack were whispering furiously, but she didn't care. Sure she felt bad but she really didn't have that much time left, and she was pretty sure that this was beyond even Zecora, that no matter how hard she tried was going to make a fool of herself tomorrow, infront of every gifted pony in Equestria.

She noticed that nobody had followed her after all, and looking up she could see two silhouettes disappear into the sky. Even her friends knew this was hopeless.

The knot in her gut tightened.


End file.
